Yes. You can install Cygwin on Windows, which gives a Unix-like environment. Then you can install the Cygwin sshd package (or telnetd, perhaps). Once this is running it's possibl to SSH (or telnet) into localhost. You can then do this from a Nettle(SSH) window under VA, meaning you can control the cygwin/Windows side from RISC OS. If you make sure the cygwin home directory is mounted on VA, you can see the same files under VA as under cygwin.

Then it's a case of installing GCCSDK - pretty much follow the installation instructions. It behaves pretty much the same as building on Linux. Files output by cygwin with RISC OS filetypes (program,ff8) should be directly runnable from the emulator.

Just use your normal Windows username and password. You might have to start sshd manually from a Cygwin shell in Windows:

$ /usr/sbin/sshd
then test logging in from Windows:
$ ssh localhost

If that works you should be able to now login from VRPC.
It might be preferable to start sshd manually like this rather than using cygrunsrv if you're not planning to use it all the time - running it as a service means it's running all the time and so your machine is more vulnerable.

A blank password on a remote login program is a huge security risk. (Mitigated slightly if you restrict connections to localhost only, but not entirely). Could you set a Windows password? You might have to restart sshd/cygwin before trying again.

A blank password on a remote login program is a huge security risk. (Mitigated slightly if you restrict connections to localhost only, but not entirely). Could you set a Windows password?

Hmm, I don't really want to have to enter a password whenever I turn on my machine. Can you set up a specific user with a password in sshd? (My situation is doubly convoluted as my Windows username has a space in it so my cygwin username is different to my Windows one )